Collision between two public interests in housing demolition and relocation in Dalian, China

Preservation of historical and cultural heritage is emerging as an important “public interest” in urban China. It is challenging the prevailing ‘public interest’ of property and land development. Based on the Dongguan street redevelopment project in Dalian, this chapter explores the competition and collision between these two ‘public interests’ and associated impacts on individual households’ rights and interests. Seeking to preserve local heritage, an NGO, the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, successfully intervened to stop a local government-initiated housing demolition. In so doing, however, local households’ rights and interests were also impacted. The findings are used to tease out the representativeness of these two ‘public interests’, and to contribute to greater understanding of the increasing participation of NGOs in urban governance, as well as the role of local government-private developer coalitions, and how individual households’ rights and interests may be better served. Copyright © 2021 Robyn Bartel and Jennifer Carter.